Originally Posted by
BluSdUp
On a thread drift I would like to bring to attention the fact that Denmark is considering closing Bluie West 8 or formerly called Søndre Strømfjord.
Regards
Cpt B
Eh, no. Søndre Strømfjord, along with all other villages and places in Greenland, have had their Danish names replaced by Greenlandic ditto. Thus Søndre Strømfjord is now Kangerlussuaq. 'Bluie West 8' ceased to be in 1992, when the airport was handed over to Greenland for civilian use. Thus, the naming sequence is Bluie West 8 -> Søndre Strømfjord -> Kangerlussuaq. IATA code is SFJ, ICAO is BGSF - they weren't changed.
The plan is to extend the existing runways in Nuuk and Ilulissat to a lenght of 2200 meters, and construct a third airport from scratch in Qaqortoq, with a 1500 meter runaway. The future of Kangerlussuaq has not been finally settled, but the tentative plan is to reduce it to a heliport. There's hardly anybody living in or around Kangerlussuaq, which means most passengers flying to Greenland are only stopping there to transfer onto a domestic fixed- or rotary-wing service.to their intended destination.
I don't quite understand how a 2200 meter runway will be sufficient for an A330 doing the service to CPH; seems to be a bit on the short side.